I knew it had to be done – I’ve graduated from university, I’ve just started my first paid photography internship, I’ve been bleach blonde since the age of 16 (I’m 23 now!) and I was well due a change, and I’m SO glad I did!

I decided to have my hair coloured at the same Toni and Guy salon that I had it cut in a few weeks earlier because of familiarity, convenience and because I felt comfortable there . Two days before my appointment I had a skin test to make sure my skin didn’t react to the dye, which was fine. I arrived at T&G at 10.30 on Saturday morning and was out by 1.30 – it was quite a lengthy and complicated process but my hairdresser (Abby) was fab.

I bought in a few pictures of how I wanted my hair, one of Hayden P, Emma Watson and MK Olsen. Abby told me that Emma’s (below) would be really good to do because we have a similar skin tone, and because it looks like she only has two colours in her hair which would be easy to do.

She then explained exactly what she was going to do with my hair (I was SO anxious and worried, but she calmed me down, ha!). She got the book of hair colours out and we chose one which was a shade lighter than my natural mousey blonde colour.

Abby then applied one strip of that dye, then a strip of bleach to my roots, then the dye, then the roots etc in layers until my whole head was covered. Then Abby applied a ‘neutraliser’ to a lot of my still bleached hair (whilst the dye was wrapped in tin foil). This toned down my bleached locks and made them more ‘neutral’ into a light natural blonde. After about 40 minutes I then went over to the sink to have the dye washed out. A toner was applied to my hair after it had been shampooed and left on for a minute (apparently it worked instantly to just tone everything down a bit). Then my hair was conditioned as usual, brushed through and blow dried on a low heat.

The Results:

I LOVE IT! I just think I look so much more healthy and glowing now – I don’t look as pale as I used to and my eyebrows aren’t as standout-ish which is good.

I am fully aware that my roots were atrocious before the dye – I hadn’t bleached them in 10 weeks because I knew I was going to dye it anyway.

As you can see there is still a lot of bleach blonde in it, especially on the ends where the dye hasn’t held as much, the top of my head is much darker which I like. There is also still quite a lot of my old roots in there which is fab because I’m hoping it’ll be less obvious when they grow through.

Now, one problem has definitely been the colour fading. Every time I wash my hair, my shower turns brown after shampooing which I hate seeing as I don’t want the colour to lighten. The colour has faded quite a bit now, but in the light its still quite a dark blonde and you can still see the different colours in it.

The whole head of highlights cost me £75 – I got 20% off because I work in the same shopping centre as the salon (it would have been £98). I was expecting to pay over £110 so I’m quite happy with the price.

One thing that is worrying me though is what I’m going to have to do when the roots come back. I definitely can’t afford to get them topped up in a salon every month – have you got any suggestions? What would happen if I put an ‘at home box dye’ on my hair?

What do you think of my new look?

What products can I use to stop the colour fading and how can I maintain this colour cheaply?